“Kyella!” Kolvar yelled, jerking my gaze up in just enough time to see her struggling to break free of their combined hold on her.
A feral scream fell from her lips as she tried to launch herself toward Freyen, and I scrambled to figure out what to do. I didn’t want her to feel like I was banishing her from the room, but I was sure she wouldn’t listen to reason right now.
I needed to know if he had a way to contact Malakai. It would give us insight into what their emperor knew about the ship that sank in the Cursed Divide. That knowledge would also let us know if he would expect an attack from us. Not to mention, getting the name of who betrayed us was absolutely necessary. At this point, it was beyond doubt that someone had sold us out to our enemy.
I didn’t know what boiled through Kyella’s veins, but I expected that it was the exact opposite of the cold anger I currently felt. No, what Kyella was feeling was explosive and lethal.
Freyen’s head pushed up against my hand holding him down as a chuckle slipped from his lips, bringing my attention back to him.
What the fuck about this situation was funny to him? How did he not seem to realize he wouldn’t be leaving here alive?
Following his line of sight, I recognized the back of the figure he was looking at as he ushered his family out of the room.
“Tristan?!” Freyen called out like he was talking to an old friend, ignoring the fact that his life was no longer his own. No, his life was forfeit to the Tridian Empire, and he would pay his debt soon enough. “Is that you? I heard you betrayed our Emporer, but I never thought it would be to live underneath this fucking cunt—”
“Elijah, watch out!”
My head snapped in Kyella’s direction in time to see her break from their grip on her in an impressive, sharp movement. In the span of a heartbeat, I tried to intercept her as I shoved Freyen into the ground, using him to launch myself toward her.
Just as my hands were about to close around her arms, she vanished.
Fuck!
Her eyes glowed gold, her breathing was ragged, and her dress dripped with blood. Her chin was tilted down as she seemed to sum up her prey. Her small frame trembled with rage as Freyen spat out, “What are you going to do, little girl? You aren’t strong enough to even take a ride on my cock–”
Kyella moved so fast that evenIhad trouble tracking it. She may have had little to no training, but her strength and speed were like nothing I had ever seen. In a second flat, she had positioned herself behind him with her hands on either side of his head, facing out toward the room and all of the remaining guards and a few civilians that were trickling out, including Tristan who was shielding Rina’s eyes.
Kyella snapped his neck, the loudcrack!echoing through the stunned crowd as she grinned down at the now still man. Snapping his neck wouldn’t kill him, but it would make him shut the fuck up until it healed. It wasn’t the most controlled thing she could have done, but it was an effective way to subdue the mouthy fucker.
I stepped forward, hand raised with the thought to calm her on the tip of my tongue, but…
My eyes widened, heart pounding in my chest as blood exploded from the assassin’s neck. It sprayed her, coating her frame as she ripped the head clean from his body and tossed it to the side in a feat of strength. When she looked up from his decapitated body, blood dripping down her face, I could see a wild violence, a strength and desire for vengeance, burning through her.
Myrin had said that dhampyrs were a mark of great change in the world, and at the moment, I worried that Myrin’s death would tip her into the wrong direction, letting her hatred for Malakai consume her.
As she stumbled upward, pushing herself to stand, she paused long enough to kick his body to the side. Dakath, Kolvar, and I all exchanged looks of confusion and worry as the light seemed to completely fade from her eyes. She deflated seconds later as her shoulders slumped forward. Kyella’s dazed expression didn’t seem to be focused on anything at all anymore, blank and unseeing as she took a half step forward, balancing Barnabus on her shoulder thoughtlessly.
I wasn’t even sure she had fully processed what she’d done, clouded instead by the haze of violence and grief that permeated the air around her.
Suddenly, a cry sounded throughout the room. It was a cry of victory. Not of celebration, but of victory and support for what Kyella had done. For the vengeance she had taken in Myrin’s honor.
I had wanted answers from him before we got that vengeance, but this wasn’t the time to make my point to Kyella.
Reality began to filter back into my love’s gaze, and the three of us slowly approached her. She was shaking, and despite having just shown what she was willing to do in the name of vengeance, I could see something else start to filter in as tears welled up in her eyes. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. It was pain—the true pain of losing someone she had grown to respect and love. It was hitting her fully now, but that pain returned her closer to her true self, grounding her in the moment and showing me the kind eyes of the woman I loved.
I swept her up into my arms, knocking Barnabus from her shoulder to fly around as I held her to me. Her body trembled violently, tears streaming earnestly from her. I didn’t care about the blood soaking her, and I knew there was little I could do to console her grief, but I wanted her to know we were here and we weren’t going anywhere. She breathed roughly against my neck as her tears wet my skin, and I carried her towards the exit, with Dakath and Kolvar flanking us on either side. I briefly heard Kolvar give the orders to Phin and Dru to have Myrin’s body taken out of the room and cared for. I knew between them and Myrin’s own personal guards, they would see to it.
Now that Freyen was dead, the cold blanket I’d tried to keep over my emotions was lifted, and the reality of the situation slammed into me full-force.
Myrin was gone forever.
“Kyella,” I whispered as she looked up at me, needing to know she was okay. Rather than the grief I expected to find in her eyes, I was met with a wall of fury.
“Elijah,” she breathed out, choking in her anger. “I will kill Malakai for what he has done.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Kyella
